Greater New Orleans

Education Superintendent John White testifies against House Bill 466 on Wednesday, April 24, 2014. The bill, which passed 9-6, would give the Legislature the ultimate approval power over the formula to determine school letter grades.
(Lauren McGaughy/NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

The House Education Committee voted Tuesday to give the Legislature ultimate
approval power over the state's formula for school letter grades, a power that now rests with the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Educators
around the state have been up in arms after recent changes to the formula tied the formula to
student ACT scores.

Bill sponsor Rep. Ken Havard, R-Jackson, said he introduced House Bill
466 because the new grading method, first
outlined by the Department of Education last year, would cause many currently
A grade schools to drop to C grades this year.

Havard said although the department told
lawmakers they would have a say in the grading method, they were ultimately
kept out of the process. As a consequence, "it's
obvious to me that we have a playbook and script handed down by organizations
far beyond this state," Havard said.

Every
elementary, middle and high school in Louisiana is given a letter grade "to more
clearly communicate the quality of schools to parents and the public,"
according to the DOE website. High
school grades are based equally on four measures: student ACT scores,
student end-of-year test scores, graduation rate and timeliness of graduation.

West
Feliciana Parish Schools Superintendent Hollis Milton said including ACT scores in the grade will
mean top-performing schools in his parish will see their scores drop
substantially because the school systems have not had time to prepare their
students for the test. This could have a negative effect on economic
development because parents don't want to move into an area with low-performing
schools, Milton said.

Milton
and Havard also said they have concerns with the fact that students who don't
plan to attend college must also take
the test or risk scoring a "zero" for their school, which could hurt the letter
grade.

Speaking
in opposition, State Superintendent John White said lawmakers should not take
the power to raise standards away from the BESE board, which now sets the grading formula. He said doing so will put a block in the trajectory of improvement of the state's schools.

"We can raise the bar without dropping the
bottom out of our educators and our schools," White told the committee, adding
the change in the formula is not meant to shame schools.

White noted parents can choose to have their child
opt out of the ACT test and that their "zero" score would be balanced out by
those who score higher. He added that predictions show around 200 schools will see
their letter grades rise and 200 will see them fall, "so you're going to see parity against last year," White said.

BESE
President Chas Roemer said the ACT is the best indicator for college success and
that parents should want their children to excel academically on the test,
even if they don't plant to pursue higher education.

Roemer
added BESE would continue to push for tougher grading standards, adding, "even
our best schools and our best students need to push to be better."

Rep.
Patricia Smith, D-Baton Rouge, said regardless of how BESE defines the grades,
the perception among students and teachers is that the grading method is meant to
push more schools into the C, D and F category, making them eligible for entry into the Recovery School District.

In
addition to the Democrats on the committee, who all supported the bill, a number of Republicans, including
Chris Broadwater of Hammond and Thomas Carmody of Shreveport, said the issue should be discussed by the entire House.

The bill
passed by a vote of 9-6. Those voting against included: Chairman Steve Carter
of Baton Rouge, Henry Burns of Haughton, Paul Hollis of Covington, Barry Ivey
of Central, Nancy Landry of Lafayette, Jeff Thompson of Bossier City, all
Republicans.